Tele2 abandoned a claim against Nokia for 0.5 billion rubles in the case of the supply of telecom equipment

2023: Tele2 drops lawsuit against Nokia

Tele2 dropped its lawsuit against Nokia. The Moscow Arbitration Court accepted the refusal and terminated the proceedings on March 14, 2023.

According to Vedomosti, Tele2 and Nokia Solutions and Networks LLC (NSN) were able to agree on the supply of equipment for contracts concluded before the special operation in Ukraine out of court.

The parties were able to agree on the supply of equipment out of court

The Russian operator filed a lawsuit against the Finnish manufacturer of telecommunications equipment in May 2022. It was connected with Nokia's refusal to fulfill the contract for the supply of equipment. According to Interfax, citing company representatives, Nokia began to violate the terms of the contract even before the imposition of sanctions. Tele2 demanded to recover 478 million rubles.

The operator also wanted to arrest the defendant's accounts for 8 million euros and $2.6 thousand (a total of about 648 million rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of March 15, 2023) as interim measures. The court rejected the petition, and in November 2022, the plaintiff demanded that the court hearing be postponed "due to the possibility of concluding an amicable agreement."

Lawyers interviewed by the publication believe that the terms of the agreement between Tele2 and Nokia are unlikely to be announced in the form of an amicable agreement approved by a court ruling. This is due to the fact that the subject of the agreement of the parties to the dispute is confidential, and the plaintiff at the hearing announced only the rejection of the claim, which was eventually accepted. According to lawyers, by mid-March 2023, Tele2 has disputes with other manufacturers, and it is unprofitable for a telecom operator to publish the terms of its agreement with Nokia.

By March 2023, Tele2 and Nokia were to have a contract for the installation of 35,000 base stations for 2G, 3G, 4G networks in 41 regions of the Russian Federation. The 5-year agreement was concluded in mid-2019. Specialized experts explained to the newspaper that, probably, the parties had been negotiating for a long time on the possibility and conditions for resolving the dispute over the supply of equipment for this project out of court.^[1]

2019: Cooperation Agreement

On June 6, 2019, Tele2 reported that Sergei Emdin, Tele2's CEO in Russia, and Jan van Tetering, Nokia's senior vice president for the Europe region, had signed a cooperation agreement. The five-year agreement involves the installation of 35 thousand base stations in 41 regions of Russia.

Cooperation with Nokia will allow the operator to continue upgrading its IT infrastructure and technologically prepare for the launch of the latest communication standards. The agreement envisages the introduction of LTE-Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro, which ensure the evolution of Tele2 infrastructure to fifth-generation networks. The joint project will become the basis for the further development of the digital ecosystem of Tele2 services and will increase the availability of modern technologies for customers.

Tele2's infrastructure will be modernized taking into account the constant growth in traffic traffic. The volume of transmitted data in the Tele2 network is growing due to the development of the IoT segment, the distribution of digital services and the increasing consumption of data services. At the end of 2018, the number of active Internet users in the Tele2 network increased by 26%, and the average traffic per mobile Internet user increased by almost 45% year-on-year.

The agreement between Tele2 and Nokia separately describes preparations for the implementation of the 5G standard. The companies agreed to create joint 5G laboratory zones to demonstrate the capabilities of technology and industrial IoT. The tests will involve the development of the research division of Nokia Bell Labs. In addition, the parties will jointly work out the introduction of modern technologies with regulatory authorities and industry representatives.

The partners will also focus on developing a number of areas when implementing LTE Advanced Pro and 5G technologies. This is primarily ultra-wideband communication for the delivery and optimization of the transmission of video and "heavy" content, carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation), the creation of a broadband radio interface for 5G. The agreement includes optimization of the network architecture for the rapid implementation of services (Network Function Virtualization, Virtualized RAN, etc.), for machine exchange and the Internet of Things (Optimized Core for IoT, Optimized SDM for IoT, etc.).

In the context of traffic growth and the development of digital services, it is important for us to provide customers with the best quality of mobile services, for which we rely on partnerships with leading global equipment suppliers. Cooperation with Nokia, which recently created a joint venture with Rostelecom, opens up Tele2 with additional advantages. On the one hand, we rely on the expertise of one of the leading manufacturers of telecom systems, on the other, we solve the strategic task of developing the network on domestic equipment. Earlier, we began installing 50 thousand base stations with support for modern technology in 27 regions of Russia, and the construction of another 35 thousand will allow Tele2 to complete the transfer of the entire network to 5G-ready status, 'said Sergei Emdin, CEO of Tele2 '

We are pleased to expand our partnership with Tele2 under this cooperation agreement. We are ready to provide all possible support to Tele2's ambitious tasks in the field of modernizing its network and preparing for the transition to the latest communication standards, including 5G. Nokia provides carriers with the easiest way to upgrade existing networks when moving to emerging communication standards, ensuring minimal start-up time, higher reliability, and the lowest cost of deploying networks.

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